Thursday, October 30, 2014

First things first, please don’t judge MY cleanliness. Messy
Teenage Girl’s (MTG) room does not reflect the rest of my house. We keep things nice and tidy. However, MTG’s room is another story. Secondly, MTG did give me permission to use
this photo and blog about her…"issue."
In fact, she actually thought I “enhanced” the photo. I did not touch a thing. I solemnly swear.

The dirty room question comes up at every Sky Moms event I
attend. What do we do about it? Is it a reflection of their character? Is it defiance? What if they never learn to clean? What kind of roommate will they be? And so
on…

I have learned through the years that a dirty room is just
that, a dirty room. It is not a picture
into the future and is not a character flaw.
It’s just evidence of a preteen and teen’s chaotic, crazy lifestyle. School, extra-curricular, church, friends,
sports, etc. They get busy and the room
takes a back seat to all of the above.

Am I excusing MTG’s lack of motivation to clean her
room? No. But I get it.
Here’s how we handle it at our house:

1)Once a week I ask her to clean it “Mommy
Clean.” That means, clean it like I
would clean it. Really good.

2)Through the week, when I ask her to bring down
her laundry, I expect her to bring down her laundry. When it’s clean, I expect her to put it up
properly. It is demoralizing to find
fresh, clean clothes on the floor. Been
there?

3)I try to call the upstairs her “apartment.” She’s the only one who lives up there so it
kind of is. It makes it “cool” and “hip”
to clean her very own apartment.

4)My now 21 year old daughter is immaculate. Her room once looked like MTG’s.

5)Lastly, I try to keep things in
perspective. In a few short years, (1 ½
to be exact), I can clean to my heart’s desire and no one will be around to
mess it up again. Sigh. Cry.

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Family Fun Icebreaker: What are some ways that you help in your family?

Topic 1 Question: What is God’s Community?

Today’s Big Idea: Unity of the Body

God designed His people to each carry out individual roles, but He wants those roles to work together to form a giant organized unit that carries out the will of God. The body of Christ needs to have a helpful heart. God has designed for you to have a role in His body, and He wants you to have a good attitude toward the role that He has given you. Sometimes God surprises you. A role that seems unimportant may be more important than it seems. God has a different perspective than you do. While you can only see a small part of the picture, He sees the big picture that involves everyone. Trusting God’s wisdom can be hard, especially if you think your plan for your life is better than God’s plan. Respect God’s decisions! Through the Holy Spirit, He helps you have a desire to do the role that He has given to you. He makes His plan sound good to you!

Talk with God: Read the scripture aloud.

If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. 1 Corinthians 12:15-20 (ESV)

Walk with God: Read aloud and discuss.

Respect for God’s authority, for your role, and the role of others is key to a unified body. When you show respect, you think and speak well of others. Showing respect in the body of Christ is the same. To show respect for the different roles, you think and speak well of the role, too. Your attitude will reflect your heart.

Discuss with your family: Are you a good follower? Do you respect others and listen well when someone else is in charge? How do you treat the person in leadership? What role do you think you have been given in the body of Christ? How is your attitude toward that role?

Prayer suggestion: Pray for God to help you respect the role that He designed for you.

Monday, October 27, 2014

OH MY! I had so much fun making this wonderful and quick one dish meal! This truly is good enough to serve for an elegant dinner party. My family really loved it, and, I love a “kid friendly” main course.

I absolutely love to “experiment” in the kitchen. My dear mother never cooks with a recipe, she is just an amazing cook…..I am no where near a no recipe, ‘scratch’ cook like her, however, this recipe is a definite keeper. I added Italian seasoned meatballs to this, but, it would be wonderful without them too. The meatballs made the dish more hearty and, everyone pushed away from the table nice and full, goal accomplished.

These days, I adore a quick prep meal that tastes like it took hours to cook. How GREAT! Hope you enjoy. Invite some dear friends over for a nice meal and serve this up. Toss up a nice green salad and heat up a loaf of buttered French bread to go along with it. DONE!

In a large skillet over low-medium heat on the stove, add the olive oil, chicken broth, evaporated milk and half-n-half. Stir constantly until warm. Add the corn, mushroom soup and white wine. Stir until blended, about 2 minutes. Add the bacon, parmesan cheese and pepper. Continue to stir until blended, over the heat.

Tip: (Be sure and take the skillet off of the heat, if you need to stop stirring to gather ingredients– you do not want it to scorch or burn). Lastly, ½ the bag of meatballs to the sauce. Stir constantly until the meatballs are good and heated.

Spoon the sauce over hot bowtie pasta. Serve right away.

* This sauce keeps really well in the refrigerator, for several days. I ate a portion for lunch the day after and, the flavor was even better than the night before. YUM!

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Family Fun Icebreaker: What is something new about you that you can share?

Topic 1 Question: What is God’s Community?

Today’s Big Idea: The Body of Christ

Jesus also sends His community supernatural help from God. When Jesus left the earth, He promised to send a Helper, the Holy Spirit ( John 14:26, 15:26, 16:7). When you trust in Jesus, you are freed from the power of habitual sin and given a supernatural Helper. It is really important to understand that you are not to serve God through your own self-control. If you try to live a godly lifestyle on your own without God’s help, you may succeed for a little while, but eventually you will fail. Every person who trusts Jesus will still occasionally sin; it can take some time for God to change your behavior. But if you listen to the Holy Spirit’s direction in your heart, you will eventually sin less and less. God wants you to ask for His help and provides additional help from the Holy Spirit. God’s Holy Spirit lives in those who follow Jesus, and He helps each person as they listen to God’s instruction and learn not to sin. The Holy Spirit’s message to you will always agree with God’s Word; it will never contradict it. He will encourage the members of His body to work as a united community to carry out the service that God desires from each person (Romans 8:9, 11). When Jesus sent the Holy Spirit, He made something new-- a new unity of hearts that works together and helps others.

Talk with God: Read the scriptures aloud.

Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. 1 Corinthians 12:27 (ESV)

The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. 1 Corinthians 12:12 (NLT)

For the body does not consist of one member but of many. 1 Corinthians 12:14 (ESV)

Walk with God: Read aloud and discuss.

From cleaning the house to preparing a meal, your family works as a team to encourage each other. What are other teams that you have been part of? Teams should work together, but they need to have the same goal in mind or will cause difficulty. The body of Christ is very similar. God helps His community work together by using the Holy Spirit to call things to mind so that the whole body will work as a unit. We all work together to serve God’s purposes of showing His compassion to the hurting world.

Discuss with your family: What do you think is meant by the “body of Christ?” Can you explain how you think it works?

Prayer suggestion: Pray for God’s help to understand the body of Christ.

Friday, October 17, 2014

Another great recipe from our Guest Blogger Beth Bryson! Enjoy this with your family and friends!HOT CORN DIP 1 can whole kernel corn, drained1 can Mexi-corn, drained1 small can green chile peppers, chopped (do not drain) 1 cup real mayonnaise1/2 cup sour cream1/2 stick butter, melted1 t. salt1-1 1/2 t. Cajun seasoning3 cups Cheddar cheese, finely gratedMix all ingredients and stir in the cheese last. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes until good and hot. Serve with corn chips. These ingredients are easily kept on hand and you can make this any time…

One of the benefits of being in God’s community is the hope given to you through your belief in Jesus. God wanted a world of free people, not robots who do not understand freedom of choice. Therefore, God designed a world that allows you to choose between good and evil. God defines good and evil for you through a moral code in the Bible. When you choose to go against God’s moral code; you choose to go against God, and you choose to sin. Every person that has lied, been selfish, or opposed God’s teaching has sinned. All people, with the exception of Jesus, have sinned, according to scripture. God knew people would easily choose their own way against Him, but they would regret their actions. He understood these sinners would someday wish to be part of His community. God designed a plan to help people make a change in their lifestyle; God’s plan frees you. When you trust in Jesus as Lord of your life, you are choosing to change from opposing God to joining God’s community. Through His guidance, you are choosing to be freed from a lifestyle of habitual sin. This freedom allows you to listen to God and serve in God’s community better.

Talk with God: Read the scripture aloud.

He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred

us to the kingdom of his beloved Son. Colossians 1:13 (ESV)

Walk with God: Read aloud and discuss.

The domain of darkness sounds scary, doesn’t it? All people start out in the domain of darkness. Does that statement surprise you? God tells you in Romans 3 that all people have sinned. Every person, with the exception of Jesus, has sinned and lived in the domain of darkness. When you choose to believe Jesus, you are committing to believe all that Jesus said in scripture. Jesus said that He paid the price for your sins and made you right with God the Father; therefore, you need to believe in Him and trust what He says. Once you believe Jesus, you are transferred to the kingdom, or community, of God. It becomes evident in a person’s words and actions which group they are part of. The people in God’s community agree with God and confess Jesus as their Lord. The words they speak and their lifestyle choices agree with God’s Word. The people in the domain of darkness do not agree with God and His Word, living their own way apart from God and are not submissive to Jesus.

Discuss with your family: Can you recognize a person who really listens to Jesus or one who does not? God explains the right and wrong ways to talk and act in scripture. Can you list behaviors from the two groups? What are they?

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Family Fun Icebreaker: Have you ever made a promise and kept it? What was it?

Topic 1 Question: What is God’s Community?

Today’s Big Idea: Jesus, God’s Son

Jesus is God’s Son and the answer to the promise that God made to Abraham. Abraham’s great-great-grandson is King David and King David’s greatgreat-grandson is Jesus. God takes significant amounts of time in the Bible to list the descendants of Abraham and David so that you can connect Jesus as their great-great-grandson and the Promised One sent from God. Jesus is the chosen Leader of God’s community. Have you wondered why God sent His Son to keep you from perishing? God says in scripture that your soul is eternal and lives forever. Even though your body will die someday, your soul will live on. Your soul has the hope to live on with God in heaven. Heaven is God’s home, and for your soul to be welcome in God’s home you must listen to God and do as He says. Scripture states that you must believe God exists and live as he instructs. God says that you must believe in your heart that Jesus, God’s Son, is Lord and confess He is Lord of your life (Romans 10:9) for you to be saved and welcome in heaven. Your belief must be so real that you can see your faith through your lifestyle and actions.

Talk with God: Read the scriptures aloud.Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David. Luke 1:31-32 (ESV) For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 (ESV) This is why we work hard and struggle, for our hope is in the living God, who is the Savior of all people and particularly of all believers. 1 Timothy 4:10 (NLT) Walk with God: Read aloud and discuss.“Hope” is an interesting word and can be hard to explain. You can hope that your team wins a game, but is that the same hope that the Bible describes? No, hope in the Bible has a stronger meaning. In the Bible, hope means to hope in a promise that your life depends on, similar to trusting in a promise. When you hope in God, you believe in His supernatural power. You cannot extend your life one second beyond God’s timing. If you want to continue to exist eternally in a pleasant environment (meaning heaven), you will have to trust in someone else more powerful than yourself to help you find salvation. God encourages people through His Word to hope in and trust in His Son, Jesus, to be your Leader.

Discuss with your family: Is there a difference in faith and hope? In your own words, what is hope to you? Is it easy or difficult for you to hope in Jesus? Why?

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Family Fun Icebreaker: How is the person to your left a blessing to you?

Topic 1 Question: What is God’s Community?

Today’s Big Idea: God’s Promise

God made a special promise to Abram. God said that in Abram’s offspring He would bless you, your family, and ALL the families of the world. What a promise! Abram, whose name is later changed by God to Abraham, trusted God and obeyed His voice. He was given a great honor, a Promised Offspring that would bless ALL the families of the world. This Promised One from God, the Promised Offspring talked about in scripture, would be from Abraham’s family line. This blessing was a result of Abraham’s faith in God. God clearly reveals in His Word the family line that His Promised Future Leader would come from–He would be a descendant from Abraham and his wife Sarah. Romans 4:13-25 shares more about the Promised One and His family, stating that Abraham is the father of many nations. One of those nations is a nation of faithful people. He is the father of all who believe God. Galatians 3:7 reveals that the real children of Abraham are those who put their faith in God.

Talk with God: Read the scriptures aloud.(God is talking to Abraham) I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice. Genesis 22:17-18 (ESV)

Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see. Hebrews 11:1 (NLT)

Walk with God: Read aloud and discuss.
Some family somewhere was going to be the honored family who would be blessed with the Promised Son from God. This special Son is the future Leader of God’s Community. Does it surprise you to know the family was picked because of the faithfulness of the father? Today we expect some heroic act in order to be given such a great honor; yet, God chose a man’s faith as the important act that would determine who would receive the honor. The word faith has a stronger meaning in the Bible than the meaning in our language today. “Biblical faith” refers to a faith, or belief, so strong that it causes you to take action…a faith that will be evident in your lifestyle.

Discuss with your family: Did you think of faith as an action? What are ways that faith in God is evident in a person’s lifestyle?